Oct. 31 – Matagorda, TX

Matagorda Harbor Marina

Miles to Rockport, TX – 79

“Unless you walk out into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference in your life are pretty low” –Tom Peters

We're getting close...tonight we are docked close enough to our home town that friends, Joan and Jim Auld drove up and had dinner with us. They travel in a RV and have tried to meet up with us several times in the past years on the east coast, but timing just hasn't worked out. It was fun having them aboard and going out to eat. We also had time to visit with an old high school friend and his wife who are moving their sailboat back to the Houston area. This trip has definitely been different than the trip going east on The Pearl in 2011. On that trip we didn't see any other boaters on the docks until Tarpon Springs...this trip we've met people at every stop. I'm not sure if that's because more people are boating again or the time of year, but it's been fun meeting new people.

Tomorrow we'll be back in home waters as we cross Matagorda Bay. Our plan is to stay in Port O'Connor tomorrow night, which is right on the ICW. Our home is at the upper part of Lavaca Bay, which flows into Matagorda Bay. Stan grew up fishing these waters...so we will technically be home tomorrow. What a great feeling that will be.

This is DOW Chemicals in Freeport...I like their lighthouse

These are Roseate Spoonbills...most had their heads down and hiding from the wind.

This guy had his eye on us all the way past the bridge

We've had several locks that were having work done on them...all barge traffic is held up at them during the day, but we've been allowed to pass. Not a lot of space but at least it didn't hold us up.

The ICW is very close to the gulf here.

A little bait camp on the ICW

This looks like a fun little place

A map of our home area